Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.
I like the stories John tells about Jesus. But when John launches into philosophy as he does in 1 John, or into descriptions of a dystopian future as he does in Revelation, he often loses me.
Listen to him in 1 John 2:3:
We know that we have come to know him
if we keep his commandments.
How’s that again? How do we know that we know Jesus?
The problem of how we know is one of the most complex questions in philosophy. How do we know that we know anything? But John, the fisherman-turned-evangelist, tosses off a simple answer, a simple test: Do we keep Jesus’ commands? If we do, we know that we know him.
John doesn’t share Paul’s angst over bad behavior. Paul said, “The good I want to do, I don’t do; and the evil I abhor–that’s what I do” (Rom 7:19). John, in contrast, prescribes simple obedience: just keep Jesus’ commands. That proves we know him.
In my experience, John’s simple, black and white perspective gets lost in the convoluted grays of my life. Am I keeping Jesus’ commands? Well . . . I keep some of them, some of the time. I love my neighbors–occasionally–but more often, I just ignore them.
I support the church and Christian causes. But do I give generously enough?
I pray, but am I honest and fervent enough? As singer-songwriter Paul Simon said, “The awkwardness was, I don’t know whether my honestly was really honest enough” (Paul Simon, “Paul Simon Contemplates Faith, Death, and the Existence of God”, June 20, 2023, Interview with Tom Power on Q, YouTube, 11:15-12:05. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi6NFPhsGyM&t=2s&ab).
But as honest as I am able, my life direction is to listen to Jesus and do what he says. Perhaps that’s enough for John.
Let’s pray.
O Jesus, do I really know you? John says the answer is not in introspection and self-examination. The answer is evident in my behavior.
O Jesus, help me to live like the stories John tells of you. To sit like Mary at your feet. In Martha’s kitchen, to hear you question my values. To confess with Peter, “Where else can I go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Help me be like Thomas, who put his hand into your wounded side, and believed that the impossible was real
Help me by good works to know that I know you.
Amen.
I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.
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